WAVERLY, Iowa – Five Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference student-athletes competed at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend.
Texas Lutheran University sent sophomores Marquis Brown and Akia Taplin to the event, while Trinity University's Cody Hall, Matt Love and Britney Sullivan also competed.
Brown competed in the 400-meter dash, finishing fifth in his heat and 11th out of the event's 19 runners with a time of 47.98 seconds.
Taplin, the SCAC champion in the shot put, posted a mark on each of her three tosses. Her final throw - a toss of 37 feet, 8.75 inches - was her best.
Taplin is the first TLU shot put athlete to qualify for the NCAA Division III national meet.
Hall competed in the 110-meter hurdles, running the event in 14.60 seconds, only .07 seconds and one place shy of making the top eight in the field. He entered nationals seeded 14th, with a personal-best time of 14.52 seconds.
Sullivan placed 10th in the women's triple jump Saturday, just missing a berth in the finals. Sullivan produced a mark of 11.77 meters, and came up just short of making the top-nine group for the finals. She was seeded 15th in the field, with a previous jump of 11.78 meters.
Love placed 14th in the discus, posting a mark of 46.27 meters in the field of 20 competitors at. He entered the event ranked 18th in the nation, with a personal-best throw of 48.98 meters.